Critical Assets Podcast

The Attack Surface You Eat: Cyber Risk in Food and Agriculture Kristin King joins Patrick Miller to make the case that food cybersecurity is not food security, and that food and agriculture is one of the most under-defended corners of critical infrastructure. From precision agriculture and processing plants to aquaculture, zoos, and aquariums, they trace where the OT and ICS risk actually lives, w...

Patrick Miller reconvenes with Joy Ditto (Joy Ditto Consulting) and Earl Shockley (INPOWERD) for a tour of the past two months in critical infrastructure policy. The episode opens on the administration's new National Cybersecurity Strategy and its six pillars, with focus on the openly offensive "shape adversary behavior" posture and the asymmetric risk it creates for asset owners likely to absorb...

Welcome to the Policy Pulse Panel , a new monthly series within the Critical Assets Podcast. Hosted by Patrick Miller (Ampyx Cyber), Earl Shockley (CEO, Inpowerd), and Joy Ditto (CEO, Joy Ditto Consulting), this recurring panel dives into the most significant policy shifts and regulatory developments impacting critical infrastructure, operational technology (OT), and industrial cybersecurity. Each...

In this episode, Patrick Miller speaks with Kylie McClanahan, CTO at Bastazo, about the practical (and often messy) realities of patch and vulnerability management in operational technology (OT) environments. Kylie shares grounded insights into patching challenges, the gaps between IT and OT remediation cycles, and the real-world implications of relying too heavily on scoring systems like CVSS. Th...

In this episode of the Critical Assets Podcast , Patrick Miller interviews Darren Highfill, former CISO of Norfolk Southern, for a candid look behind the curtain of life as a security executive. Darren shares hard-won lessons from building and leading a cybersecurity program in a critical infrastructure environment, including how to gain executive buy-in, scale a team, and align security with busi...

In this episode, we sit down with Lesley Carhart (@hacks4pancakes), a renowned expert in OT/ICS incident response and forensics, to explore the unique challenges of defending critical infrastructure against cyber threats. Lesley shares insights into how internal OT teams can better support external IR teams, evaluates global and sector-specific preparedness, and discusses the impact of regulations...

Join us for a discussion on Energizing Cybersecurity Careers: Workforce Development in the OT/ICS Community. Guests Cynthia Hsu and Erin Owens dive into the cybersecurity challenges facing Industrial Control Systems and Operational Technology asset owners. Through open conversations, we explore everything from skill gaps and career pathways to diversity, continuous learning, and the impact of new...

In this episode, we take a deep dive into the world of Cyber Informed Engineering (CIE), joined by Ginger Wright, Program Manager at Idaho National Laboratory. This episode unpacks CIE's strategic efforts to integrate cybersecurity into the very fabric of engineering critical infrastructure. We discuss the evolution of CIE and how it's transforming the approach to system design. We cover the syner...

Join Patrick Miller, CEO of Ampere Industrial Security and his guest Danielle Jablanski, OT Cybersecurity Strategist at Nozomi Networks as they continue their debate on the topic: "If you could have only one cybersecurity regulation, what should that be?" They cover everything from threat hunting, vulnerability management, attack surface management, incident response, breach notification, risk qua...

Join Patrick Miller, CEO of Ampere Industrial Security and his guest Amanda Freick, CRO of Altruistic as they discuss the need for collaboration and breaking down cultural barriers to effectively utilize data and drive innovation in the energy sector with AI/ML. We also touch upon the importance of approaching generative AI and language models like GPT with a strategic mindset, understanding the s...

Hear from an experienced ICS/OT Security Manager, Gabe Agboruche, on how to enter or upskill into the ICS/OT cybersecurity field. He answers questions such as… What training is available? What are the biggest obstacles? What are some common job roles? What are the best paying job roles? We also cover the asset owner’s perspective on how they can obtain and retain new cybersecurity professionals. S...

Getting started with ICS and OT security metrics can be hard. What do you measure? How do you represent it? Do you even have the data? In this podcast, we talk with Erin Torruella to share her experience from building and managing metrics for multiple different sectors. She provides great advice on where to start and how to get the effort going in the right direction. ChatGPT response was… Operati...

FERC has issued Order 887, directing NERC to create new Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) cybersecurity standards for Internal Network Monitoring Systems (INSM). In this episode, Patrick Miller, CEO of Ampere Industrial Security talks with Carter Manucy, IT/OT Cybersecurity Director for Florida Municipal Power Authority (FMPA). Hear from a real electric utility asset owner, on what this Ord...